Holder: Drone strikes have killed four Americans since 2009

By Carol Cratty and Joe Johns, CNN

Updated 1404 GMT (2104 HKT) May 23, 2013

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Military drones – A U.S. Air Force MQ-1 Predator UAV assigned to the California Air National Guard's 163rd Reconnaissance Wing flies near the Southern California Logistics Airport in Victorville, California, on January 7, 2012.

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Military drones – A model of of the European "Neuron" UAV at the Paris Air Show in Le Bourget, France in 2005. The UAV is an European Research project led by Dassault Aviation.

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Military drones – An MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aircraft vehicle (UAV) sits in a shelter at Joint Base Balad, Iraq, after a mission on November 10, 2008. According to the U.S. Department of Defense, the Reaper can carry up to 3,750 pounds of laser-guided bombs and missiles.

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Military drones – A British MQ-9 Reaper sits on a runway on March 17. Both British and American Reapers are deployed to Afghanistan.

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Military drones – U.S. Marines perform operational checks on a Marine Squadron Two (VMU-2) UAV before a launch at Speed Bag Airfield, near Niland, California, on October 25, 2011.

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Military drones – An Iranian-made drone is displayed during the Army Day celebrations in Tehran on April 18, 2010.

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Military drones – A model of a surveillance drone built by Dassault Aviation and BAE Systems is displayed at the International Paris Air show in 2011.

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Military drones – An Israeli Hermes 500 UAV flies over the Hatzerim air force base near Beersheva, Israel, during an air show at the graduation ceremony of Israeli pilots on June 30, 2011.

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Military drones – Chinese visitors examine an unmanned helicopter drone at the China Aviation Expo in Beijing on September 21, 2011.

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Military drones – Israeli soldiers prepare to launch a Skylark drone during a drill on January 16, 2012 near Bat Shlomo, Israel. The Skylark can carry a camera payload of up to 1 kilogram, has an operational ceiling of 15,000 feet, and allows users to monitor any designated point within a 15-kilometer radius. The Skylark unit consists of a ground control element and three drones, which provide battalion-level commanders with real-time information.

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Military drones – An Israel Aerospace Industries UAV on display at the Singapore Airshow on February 15.

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Military drones – A model of China's "Dark Sword" UAV. According to Jane's Defense & Security Intelligence & Analysis, the drone remains only a model, but offers an example of where China may go with its drone technology.

Counterterrorism drone strikes have killed four Americans overseas since 2009, the U.S. government acknowledged for the first time on Wednesday, one day before President Barack Obama delivers a major speech on related policy.

In a letter to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, Attorney General Eric Holder said the United States specifically targeted and killed one American citizen, al Qaeda cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, in 2011 in Yemen, alleging he was plotting attacks against the United States.

The letter provided new details about al-Awlaki's alleged involvement in bomb plots targeting U.S. aviation.

Holder also said the Obama administration was aware of three other Americans who had been killed in counterterrorism operations overseas.

Holder said Samir Kahn, Abdul Rahman Anwar al-Awlaki and Jude Kenan Mohammed were not targeted by the United States but he did not add more details about their deaths.

The letter represents the first U.S. admission that the four were killed in counterterror strikes even though their deaths had been reported in the media.

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Abdul Rahman Anwar Al-Awlaki was the 16-year-old son of the al Qaeda cleric and was killed in Pakistan about two weeks after his father's death.

Khan produced the English-language magazine Inspire for al Qaeda's affiliate in the Arabian Peninsula, which included bomb-making instruction. He was killed alongside the elder al-Awlaki.

Mohammed, who was once on the FBI's Most Wanted list, was indicted in July 2009 as part of a North Carolina-based terror ring. He was charged with plotting to murder, kidnap or maim persons overseas and provide material support to terrorists. Mohammed was never arrested and for a time reportedly was living in Pakistan.

The Justice Department did not say when he was killed or provide any details.

Obama will deliver long-promised remarks on Thursday at National Defense University and will speak at length about the policy and legal rationale for how the United States takes action against al Qaeda and its affiliates, including the use of drones, according to a White House official.

Obama will discuss the administration's rationale for why those strikes are legal and necessary, the official said.

Targeting Americans with lethal force in counterterror operations overseas was a controversy that flared publicly during confirmation hearings for CIA Director John Brennan earlier this year.

Senators aggressively sought the administration's legal reasoning for those operations.

Some lawmakers were critical of the practice and questions were raised about whether drones might ever be used against U.S. citizens suspected of terrorism who were on American soil.

Holder said Obama directed him to release the latest details, which had been classified "until now." He said the unprecedented disclosure was made as a way to build on Obama's commitment in his State of the Union Address earlier this year to "continue to engage" with Congress on counterterror efforts and to "ensure that they remain consistent with our laws and values."

Holder noted in one of his own speeches last year he had made it clear the United States would only use lethal force against an American citizen "who is a senior operational leader of al Qaeda or its associated forces, and who is actively engaged in planning to kill Americans." He also said no American would be targeted unless he or she posed an imminent threat and could not be captured.

The senior al-Awlaki was believed by U.S. authorities to have inspired acts of terrorism against the United States. It was said his facility with English and technology made him one of the top terrorist recruiters in the world. He was considered the public face of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

But Holder said in his letter that it "was not his words that led the United States to act against him" but his "direct personal involvement" in the "planning and execution" of terror attacks against the United States that "made him a lawful target."

For instance, Holder said al-Awlaki "planned a suicide operation" for Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab to blow up a U.S.-bound jetliner.

Holder noted al-Awlaki directed Abdulmutallab to detonate his bomb, which was hidden in his underwear, only when the jet was over U.S. soil. The plot that ultimately involved a Delta Air Lines flight bound for Detroit on Christmas Day in 2009 failed.

The letter also provided new details about al-Awlaki's alleged involvement in a 2010 plot to blow up U.S.-bound cargo planes with explosives hidden in printers. Holder said al-Awlaki was so involved he even participated in the development and testing of the explosives used in the plan that was foiled.

Calling the decision to use lethal force "one of the gravest our government" can face," Holder said the operation targeting al-Awlaki received "exceptionally rigorous" legal review and additional policy screening by the administration. Congress was also briefed on the possibility of targeting the al Qaeda figure and informed once the decision was made in 2010.

In his letter Holder said Obama approved a policy document this week that "institutionalizes the administration's exacting standards and processes for reviewing and approving operations to capture or use lethal force against terrorist targets outside the United States and areas of active hostilities."